By Emmie V. Abadilla TV5 Network, Inc. is “on track” in terms of positioning itself in the sports market and expects to slash its losses further by 50 percent this year to break even in time for its 2019 target, according to President Vincent “Chot” Reyes. The network managed to reduce losses by trimmings its program costs as well as its operational expenses, from electricity to manpower, reducing workers from approximately 1,400 to 700 and rebranding itself as a sports and news channel. PLDT, Inc. acquired TV5 in 2009 via its media arm MediaQuest Holdings, Inc. In October, 2017, TV5 forged a four-year agreement with ESPN to introduce a new brand, ESPN 5, focusing on sports and news to boost their nationwide ranking from number three to number one. ESPN5 yesterday launched “Live Boxing Month” with its lineup of boxing events and shows for Filipino fight fans this May. So far, “We're very happy with the partnership with ESPN,” he pointed out, citing the support that viewers have been giving to ESPN5.com since it launched. And already, “We have become the number one sports website in the country.” The partnership is about a “whole ecosystem” of the digital space, he explained, “not only TV.” “ESPN is helping us with live events, television, online. “That was the plan,” TV5 evolving to be “a big player in the digital space.” Overall, “We're hitting our (revenue) targets with the current properties,” according to Reyes. “Now, we have to constantly come up with new properties, build them up first, to get a bigger slice of that (revenue) pie. But we don't expect it to take too long. I think starting the second half, we will get some scale in our digital revenues.” “That's why we have ESPN5, News5, Digital5, and we have Studio5, our platform for stuff like this. We have sharpened our priorities, but we keep ourselves open. The key moving forward is versatility and flexibility to take advantage of the latest opportunities, the latest technology.”